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12/13/2012

A new man in my bedroom.

I do not make any apologies for the fact that I'm a geek. A nerd. A dork. Whatever you want to call it, I am that, that place where enthusiasm for certain aspects of pop culture meets unabashed joy over an episode of Castle that contains a Firefly reference. I can intelligently - yes, intelligently - discuss, compare and contrast the Marvel universe and the DC universe, I'm fully versed zombie culture, my favorite shirt has the Stark Industries logo on the front, the new Harry Dresden book has me on pins and needles, and I've never met a Star Trek meme that I didn't love.

Oh, and then there are video games.

I LOVE video games. I can hold my own on just about every game that R has dragged into the house, but my one true video game love is, and always has been, Mario.

I remember as far back as high school playing Mario into the wee hours of the night, because I just HAD to finish that one level. Fast forward 20 years, and not a lot has changed.

When R mentioned that he thought we should get a Wii U as a family gift for Christmas I wholeheartedly supported this idea, although I usually automatically protest any spending over, say a buck fifty. However, in this case I knew that there was a new Mario game available for the Wii U that I would never be able to play if we didn't have this expensive new contraption on which to play it. And who would save the princess then??? WHO???

So he went out and got it, brought it home and put the box in a kid safe place.

And left it there.

For days. And days. And days.

Meanwhile, I walked past it over and over and obsessed about playing it. Since it was still in the box, and since it was TECHNICALLY not just mine, I left it there. For a WHOLE WEEK. I also spent way too much time online reading reviews from people who actually got to open theirs, lucky bastards. Everyone seemed to love it, but one of the common themes I read about was that the initial setup process took several hours. Most people saw this as a drawback; I saw it as an opening.

One day when R came home from work and I had plied him with liquor to soften him up I casually mentioned "I read that the setup process on the Wii U takes a few hours. Maybe we should open it before Christmas so we can have it ready for the boys."

"Sounds like a good idea," he replied, then went on about his business.

"It may take DAYS," I continued, since I wasn't getting the immediate response I desired. "Or possibly even WEEKS."

R sighed just a little, quietly, then got up, got the Wii U and took it upstairs to our bedroom, which is the one place in the house we could conceivably hook it up without little the boys seeing it. He hooked it all up and started the setup process, which he confirmed would take several hours.

I asked him about a dozen times if it was finished yet, and when it was we decided to give it a test run. You know, just to make sure it worked. How disappointed would the boys be on Christmas morning if it didn't work properly? I was totally willing to take one for the team.

So we fired it up and played. And played. And played. Well into the night, we took turns helping Mario navigate the tricky levels, the flying squirrels, the pits of fire...

The next morning we were both a little bleary-eyed from our late night escapades, but it was totally worth it. I mean, we HAD to do it. For the boys Christmas surprise, right?

Later that night after R had come home from work, I approached him. "Hey, babe," I said, in my most seductive voice, "A little later, after the boys are asleep, do you maybe want to go upstairs to bed early..." I let my voice trail off.